Your Sinclair


Double Volleyball

Author: Rick Robson
Publisher: Entertainment USA
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #12

Double Volleyball

Now were really getting down to basics. Double Volleyball is a veritable dinosaur amongst Speccy games and despite its title this is an unsubtle development of the original telly table tennis.

The whole crux of the game is to get the ball over the net without giving your opponent a chance to retrieve it. The clever bit (unlike doubles table tennis) is that you can pass to partner before shooting. Points are scored only when you're serving, as in badminton. Actual volley ball tactics such as bumping and spiking are only cosmetically reproduced.

Catching the ball is the tricky part - the keyboard equivalent of learning chopsticks. You have to anticipate where a mystery X is going - this is the final position of the ball after it's been smashed. Suss this and you've sussed the game.

Your two men, I assume they're men - it's not easy to tell I'm afraid - have forward, back and lateral movements, otherwise Mastertronic have spared all expense. There's only one screen, no progression of difficulty, absolutely zilch special effects (apart from the Morris dancing by the players when they've won) and you're left to define your own keys.

Wee ones might enjoy this on a wintry night when there's little one to do but if you're really into reflex honing reaction games, then it's probably worth paying the extra for Imagine's Ping Pong or CRL's Room 10.

Rick Robson

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